How does one tell if their FM16 is PTM or LM? Are only people with LM experiencing the strange thermal problems? I received my unit a few months ago and it has the thermal issue where one core hits 100C and stays there while another core is at 79C which is a massive delta indicating poor thermal transfer from some of the cores.
How hard was it to remove the Liquid Metal? Also, when you say PTM are you guys talking about those pads Linus sells that you cool down in the freezer before applying because when they heat up, they phase change into a liquid? How hard was it to remove the Liquid Metal and apply one of these? I’d love to see a tutorial.
How hard was it to remove the heat pipe to change out the thermal material? Does anyone have a tutorial of how to do this? I don’t think I’m going to try this unless Framework recommends that I do as an “official fix” because I want my laptop to be representative of what someone would get if they purchased a Framework 16 today with the fix in place since I plan to review it on YouTube and I want people to see performance and thermals representative of the unit working as expected.
Wow, that is a massive increase in performance! Honestly, I wouldn’t have expected that large of an increase in performance from just changing out the thermal material. The liquid metal must not have been making good contact at all.
That’s overpriced, you might want to buy PTM7590 from somewhere else
1 Like
How’s the temperature going? It should be under 90C
1 Like
Looks like Framework’s official solution to this problem is to apply Phase Change Material and they even provide a link to get it from them for free if you’re having thermal issues! 
Phase Change Thermal Pad Kit Request form
I can’t wait to get this fix in place and see my scores in Cinebench jump from 13000 to 15000. That is a sizable jump in performance! Also, it’s a Framework so disassembly to install the new thermal compound should be a breeze! 
So glad I found this thread, now I know why people were saying my scores looked really low for the CPU I had.
2 Likes
Honestly… Pretty easy.
Ran R23 for 10 minutes, powered off laptop, flipped it over.
Waited 10 min, took it apart.
Removing the heat sink was a little rough - make sure you watch the video to get each of the screws. I personally removed the GPU to give some room, and used the flat part of the screwdriver (plastic end) to help gently…GENTLY pry up the heat sink.
I then pulled off any large chunks of LM, followed by cleaning it very well with 90% alocohol.
I used Thermal Grizzly phase sheet PTM - 1 sheet was more than enough to do:
FW16 CPU and GPU
Steam Deck
2 Likes
95-97
And no, it shouldnt be below 90. This isnt an intel 
TDP on this chip is 100:
Before the repaste, an R23 run would max all cores at around 4.0-4.1
After the repaste, Its pushing 4.25-4.275
You also put the phase change material on the GPU too? I wonder if the kit provided from Framework also provides enough material to do that? Have you noticed any performance gains from the GPU by changing out it’s thermal transfer material also?
Only one of my cores sat at 100.1C the entire time, the rest of them would be between 80C and 90C. It was surprising to me that the cores with more thermal headroom wouldn’t come up anymore. Both Intel and AMD chips run pretty hot these days honestly, my 13900k CPU at full chooch can see the 90’s in my desktop PC. But, it was bizarre seeing my chip hit 100C at just 40 watts, that’s what tipped me off that I may have the same issue this thread was pointing out which was later confirmed with my benchmark scores and thermal numbers.
I’m just waiting to hear back from Framework in email to see if they can send me the kit so I can perform the upgrade, maybe I’ll make a YouTube short on how to do it to try and help out others unless someone else has already done this. Because I suspect there are quite a few Framework 16’s out there with this issue that people will want to get fixed knowing there is a solution for it now. It’s a pretty huge amount of performance lost to the liquid metal issues.
Just a heads up, they aren’t sending any kits till 2025.
As for the GPU - maybe ~1-2 degrees better. But I did that a few months ago to test my comfort level with the application (again, easy).
I never collected temps on the GPU before the application, but running Cyberpunk 2077 on a mix of high/ultra - the GPU sits around 70-75 degrees.
The main reason for the PTM is that it allegedly last longer than standard paste.
2 Likes
I don’t think it’s just a longevity issue because my system was having these thermal issues right out of the gate which is why I thought it was normal for so long. The benchmark scores were always the same, so I just expected it was normal. I’m betting that when I open my unit up, I’m going to find that the liquid metal leaked out partially and reduced the depth of the material contacting the CPU leading to the high temps. Apparently, some other people have shown material that has left the CPU area also. However, even with this problem the laptop has never crashed or frozen even under full CPU/GPU load so the thermal throttling is very effective at keeping stability and my hats off to AMD for making such good CPU’s and GPU’s that can handle such a massive thermal gradient like this while still trying to squeeze every bit of performance out it can without blowing up.
When were the FW16 machines started being shipped using the Honeywell PTM7958 phase change thermal interface for its thermal solution? I placed an order for mine on Sept 4 and got it a few days later, so it has been about 3 months since I have my machine.
Support is saying my machine already has the PTM7958… now I am confused???
2 Likes
If you don’t have uneven CPU thermals you probably don’t need to repaste if your laptop is LM or PTM
1 Like
I would just test your machine to see if you have the problem, if you don’t have the problem then you have nothing to worry about. Just run Cinebench R23 Multicore test with “high performance” power profile on Windows 10/11 plugged into 180 watt USB-C charger and you should get around ~15000 score’ish. If you’re down in the 13000’s then you probably want to install HWMonitor and watch the core temps on the CPU while running the benchmark again and see if the delta between the lowest and highest core temp is massive (more than a few degrees). That’s how I ultimately found out my machine was having the issue when the lowest core was 79C while the highest core was 100.1C which is the maximum it’s supposed to run at. Also, my CPU is only drawing 39-40 watts when it should be closer to 50 as I understand it.
Everyone else, please feels free to correct me if I’m wrong on any of these instructions
1 Like
You pretty much summed it up.
Every machine will have his own variance but those are good target numbers.
Side note, it was worth re-pasting (I did ptm) the dGPU, it increased the performance on mine significantly .
I do have the thermal issue and I posted my test results couple of weeks ago in this thread. I can recreate the issue on-demand. My contusion is coming from the fact if I already have the board with PTM (per support) then why are my numbers in the low 14k range. I have a 7940HS but no dGPU.
I got my machine in September but it was only recently announced a fix kit is coming and all new machines will be manufactured with PTM… something doesn’t add up??
What are they basing it on that you already have the fix? The only way to disprove or confirm it would be to open up Machine’s machine (couldn’t resist) and log the results.
I am thinking about Schrödingers thermal compound theory now…
You would need a replacement as improper installation of thermal compounds could lead breaking the system or even worse performance, and you can’t have Machine without his machine. 
1 Like
They don’t say (support did not provide anything that says i have PTM)… I can’t afford to dismantle my machine to find out myself.
2 Likes
I would push back and ask for an escalation.
I know its outside of @Destroya 's scope to get involved in support.
But a change was NOT announced until November:
“As of November 2024, we have switched our ongoing production of Framework Laptop 16 to use Honeywell PTM7958 phase change thermal interface material instead of Liquid Metal for the CPU, as we identified that in some systems, the Liquid Metal solution could pump out of the CPU area over hundreds of thermal cycles.”
If you ordered in September, then either the KCS is lying, or the person in support is grossly misguided…
2 Likes